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    SubjectRe: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3
    Date
    On Friday 15 June 2007 09:02:54 Carlo Wood wrote:
    > On Fri, Jun 15, 2007 at 06:33:51AM -0400, Daniel Hazelton wrote:
    > > Incorrect. Read section 9 of the GPLv2. It's pretty clear that the "any
    > > later version" clause is optional. Whats more is that since the modern
    > > linux kernel *IS* a "composite work" composed of Linus' original code
    > > with changes contributed by other people - Linus retains copyright to the
    > > work as a whole.
    >
    > Huh - surely not to files added to the kernel that were written by
    > others from scratch!

    Even those.

    > > This means that he can license it in any manner he chooses, as long as it
    > > doesn't affect the copyrights (or licensing) of the people that have
    > > contributed changes. I don't have to go to the US copyright law for this
    > > - Linus released Linux under the GPL, others made changes and sent them
    > > back saying "You let me have access to your code under the GPL, I've made
    > > some changes that make it better. You can have my changes under the GPL."
    > > QED: Linus still holds copyright to Linux and can license it in any way
    > > he chooses.
    >
    > This is totally new to me - if this is true - I'd really like to be sure!
    > I always thought that it would be necessary to get signatures of each
    > and every contributor before you can change a license of a file. Why do
    > you think that the FSF demands written copyright-transfers with
    > signatures before you are allowed to submit a patch to any of their
    > largers projects? If they - as original copyright holder - could do
    > what you claim - they wouldn't need those signatures.

    They don't. They demand the signature so that some contributor can't change
    their mind at a later date or even be able to give a proprietary software
    vendor the ability to use the GPL'd code in a non-GPL project.

    > Having signed a copyright transfer for 'future' changes for gprof,
    > libiberty, readline, zlib, gcc, gdb, libstdc++, bfd, dejagnu, gas,
    > and binutils,
    > Carlo Wood <carlo@alinoe.com>

    DRH

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